MetaFilter posts tagged with Mathhttp://www.metafilter.com/tags/Math
Posts tagged with 'Math' at MetaFilter.Fri, 25 Nov 2016 07:47:29 -0800Fri, 25 Nov 2016 07:47:29 -0800en-ushttp://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss60I put my thing down, flip it and reverse ithttp://www.metafilter.com/163598/I%2Dput%2Dmy%2Dthing%2Ddown%2Dflip%2Dit%2Dand%2Dreverse%2Dit
Since we all know that the day after Thanksgiving is Math Friday, and we all need to know <a href="https://www.mathsisfun.com/algebra/matrix-multiplying.html">matrix multiplication</a> for <a href="https://betterexplained.com/articles/matrix-multiplication/">our everyday lives,</a> it's perfect that we now have <a href="http://matrixmultiplication.xyz">this lovely tool.</a> tag:metafilter.com,2016:site.163598Fri, 25 Nov 2016 07:47:29 -0800selfnoiseDucksters!http://www.metafilter.com/163260/Ducksters
<a href="http://www.ducksters.com/jokes/">Here is our giant list of jokes, puns, and riddles for kids. Check out each joke category to find the type of joke, pun, or riddle you are looking for.</a> Also: <a href="http://www.ducksters.com/history/">history</a>, <a href="http://www.ducksters.com/biography/">biographies</a>, <a href="http://www.ducksters.com/geography/">geography</a>, <a href="http://www.ducksters.com/science/">science</a>, and <a href="http://www.ducksters.com/">more</a>. tag:metafilter.com,2016:site.163260Thu, 03 Nov 2016 21:52:16 -0800OverlappingElvis"Tell him to do with the $1,000 what I did."http://www.metafilter.com/162737/Tell%2Dhim%2Dto%2Ddo%2Dwith%2Dthe%2D1000%2Dwhat%2DI%2Ddid
<a href="https://people.math.osu.edu/nevai.1/AT/ERDOS/erdos_washington_post.html">Charles Krauthammer on Paul Erdős.</a> tag:metafilter.com,2016:site.162737Fri, 07 Oct 2016 11:35:48 -0800dfm500Animated mathhttp://www.metafilter.com/162201/Animated%2Dmath
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZHQObOWTQDPD3MizzM2xVFitgF8hE_ab">Essence of linear algebra</a> - "[<a href="https://twitter.com/3blue1brown">Grant Sanderson</a> of <a href="http://www.3blue1brown.com">3Blue1Brown</a> (<a href="https://www.khanacademy.org/math/linear-algebra/eola-topic">now at Khan Academy</a>) <a href="https://twitter.com/3Blue1Brown/status/772904942365347840">animates</a>] the geometric intuitions underlying linear algebra, making the many matrix and vector operations feel less arbitrary." <ol><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNk_zzaMoSs">Vectors, what even are they?</a> - "I imagine many viewers are already familiar with vectors in some context, so this video is intended both as a quick review of vector terminology, as well as a chance to make sure we're all on the same page about how specifically to think about vectors in the context of linear algebra." (9:48)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7RM-ot2NWY">Linear combinations, span, and basis vectors</a> - "The fundamental vector concepts of span, linear combinations, linear dependence and bases all center on one surprisingly important operation: Scaling several vectors and adding them together." (9:55)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYB8IZa5AuE">Linear transformations and matrices</a> - "Matrices can be thought of as transforming space, and understanding how this work is crucial for understanding many other ideas that follow in linear algebra." (10:54)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkY2DOUCWMU">Matrix multiplication as composition</a> - "Multiplying two matrices represents applying one transformation after another. Many facts about matrix multiplication become much clearer once you digest this fact." (9:59)
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;fn. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHLEWRxRGiM">Three-dimensional linear transformations</a> - "What do 3d linear transformations look like? Having talked about the relationship between matrices and transformations in the last two videos, this one extends those same concepts to three dimensions." (4:42)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ip3X9LOh2dk">The determinant</a> - "The determinant of a linear transformation measures how much areas/volumes change during the transformation." (9:59)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQhTuRlWMxw">Inverse matrices, column space and null space</a> - "How to think about linear systems of equations geometrically. The focus here is on gaining an intuition for the concepts of inverse matrices, column space, rank and null space, but the computation of those constructs is not discussed." (12:04)
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;fn. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8VSDg_WQlA">Nonsquare matrices as transformations between dimensions</a> - "Because people asked, this is a video briefly showing the geometric interpretation of non-square matrices as linear transformations that go between dimensions." (4:22)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyGKycYT2v0">Dot products and duality</a> - "Dot products are a nice geometric tool for understanding projection. But now that we know about linear transformations, we can get a deeper feel for what's going on with the dot product, and the connection between its numerical computation and its geometric interpretation." (14:07)</li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaM7OCEm3G0">Cross products</a> - "Dot products are a nice geometric tool for understanding projection. But now that we know about linear transformations, we can get a deeper feel for what's going on with the dot product, and the connection between its numerical computation and its geometric interpretation." (8:54)
<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;part 2. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu6i7WJeinw">Cross products in the light of linear transformations</a> - "This covers the main geometric intuition behind the 2d and 3d cross products." (13:11)</li></ol>
also btw...
<a href="http://setosa.io/ev/eigenvectors-and-eigenvalues/">Eigenvectors and Eigenvalues explained visually</a> - "Eigenvalues/vectors are instrumental to understanding electrical circuits, mechanical systems, ecology and even Google's <a href="http://www.rose-hulman.edu/~bryan/googleFinalVersionFixed.pdf">Page</a><a href="http://www.metafilter.com/140141/Eigendemocracy-crowd-sourced-deliberative-democracy">Rank</a> algorithm. Let's see if visualization can make these ideas more intuitive." (<a href="http://www.epicenecyb.org/archives/date/2016/09#post-22704">via</a>) tag:metafilter.com,2016:site.162201Sun, 11 Sep 2016 00:21:14 -0800kliuless"the naive approach is often to use a Gaussian blur"http://www.metafilter.com/162198/the%2Dnaive%2Dapproach%2Dis%2Doften%2Dto%2Duse%2Da%2DGaussian%2Dblur
Have you ever wondered what your graphics card is doing every time it displays one frame of a game? <a href="http://www.adriancourreges.com/blog/2016/09/09/doom-2016-graphics-study/">Turns out quite a lot.</a> In case you started reading this and blacked out, only to wake up in a tub full of math, here are some videos from the "As Fast as Possible" series to bring you up to speed:
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbWV58AH9eg">Ambient Occlusion</a>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzeJlBomZ_s">Texture Filtering</a>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqi0114mwtY">Anti Aliasing</a>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDo5TKr6pyc">More Anti Aliasing</a>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsxn93Wb7vk">DX12 and Vulkan (and APIs)</a>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCWZ_kWTB9w">Refresh Rates</a>
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqdPciq2yJs&index=185&list=PLQMVnqe4XbictUtFZK1-gBYvyUzTWJnOk">Resolution</a> tag:metafilter.com,2016:site.162198Sat, 10 Sep 2016 17:40:25 -0800selfnoisexEuclidxhttp://www.metafilter.com/162142/xEuclidx
Compass-and-straightedge construction (aka Euclidean construction) is a method of drawing precise geometric figures using only a compass and a straightedge (like a ruler without the markings). <a href="http://www.mathopenref.com/tocs/constructionstoc.html">MathOpenRef maintains a catalog of many common constructions</a>, each with an explanatory animation and a proof. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBgIWQcC6lM">This YouTube video</a> demonstrates how to construct almost every <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructible_polygon">polygon that can be constructed using these methods</a>. Useful in many decorative arts for laying out figures and patterns, the methods can also be fun to watch, often resulting in an "aha!" moment when one sees how a particular construction is done.
Although not animated, <a href="http://faculty.scf.edu/condorj/256/presentations/Gothic%20Constructions.pdf">this paper</a> [pdf] shows how geometric constructions can be used to create many common Gothic design elements, such as trefoils and arches. tag:metafilter.com,2016:site.162142Thu, 08 Sep 2016 10:29:57 -0800jedicusAuditing Algorithms and Algorithmic Auditinghttp://www.metafilter.com/162085/Auditing%2DAlgorithms%2Dand%2DAlgorithmic%2DAuditing
<a href="http://www.breakingviews.com/features/review-big-datas-all-too-human-failings/">How big data increases inequality and threatens democracy</a> - "A former academic mathematician and ex-hedge fund quant exposes flaws in how information is used to assess everything from creditworthiness to policing tactics, with results that cause damage both financially and to the fabric of society. Programmed biases and a lack of feedback are among the concerns behind the clever and apt title of <a href="https://mathbabe.org/">Cathy O'Neil</a>'s book: <i><a href="https://weaponsofmathdestructionbook.com/">Weapons of Math Destruction</a></i>." <i>"Cathy O'Neil has seen Big Data from the inside, and the picture isn't pretty.</i> Weapons of Math Destruction <i>opens the curtain on algorithms that exploit people and distort the truth while posing as neutral mathematical tools. This book is wise, fierce, and desperately necessary."</i> —[<a href="http://www.metafilter.com/user/21049">mefi's own</a>] Jordan Ellenberg, University of Wisconsin-Madison, author of <i><a href="http://www.metafilter.com/activity/21049/posts/projects/">How Not To Be Wrong</a></i>
<a href="https://mathbabe.org/2016/09/01/excerpt-of-my-book-in-the-guardian/">Excerpt</a>: <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/sep/01/how-algorithms-rule-our-working-lives">How algorithms rule our working lives</a> - "Employers are turning to mathematically modelled ways of sifting through job applications. Even when wrong, their verdicts seem beyond dispute – and they tend to punish the poor."
<a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-24/a-math-nerd-wants-to-stop-the-big-data-monster">The 'Rithm is Gonna Get You</a> - "MathBabe Cathy O'Neil is out to stop the Big Data monster."
<blockquote>The decision to leave her job as a tenure-track math professor at Barnard College and join hedge fund D.E. Shaw in 2007 seemed like a no-brainer. Cathy O'Neil would apply her math skills to the financial markets and make three times the pay. What could go wrong?
Less than a year later, subprime mortgages imploded, the financial crisis set in, and so-called math wizards were targets for blame. "The housing crisis, the collapse of major financial institutions, the rise of unemployment—all that had been aided and abetted by mathematicians wielding magic formulas," she writes...
The book chronicles O'Neil's odyssey from math-loving nerd clutching a Rubik's Cube to <a href="http://altbanking.net/">Occupy Wall Streeter</a> pushing for banking reform; along the way, she learns how algorithms—models used by governments, schools, and companies to find patterns in data—can produce nasty, or at least unintended, consequences (the WMDs of her title).</blockquote>
<a href="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/roots-of-unity/review-weapons-of-math-destruction/">If we develop the will, we can use big data to advance equality and justice</a> - "Weapons of math destruction, which O'Neil refers to throughout the book as WMDs, are mathematical models or algorithms that claim to quantify important traits: teacher quality, recidivism risk, creditworthiness but have harmful outcomes and often reinforce inequality, keeping the poor poor and the rich rich. They have three things in common: opacity, scale, and damage. They are often proprietary or otherwise shielded from prying eyes, so they have the effect of being a black box. They affect large numbers of people, increasing the chances that they get it wrong for some of them. And they have a negative effect on people, perhaps by encoding racism or other biases into an algorithm or enabling predatory companies to advertise selectively to vulnerable people, or even by causing a global financial crisis."
<a href="http://time.com/4471451/cathy-oneil-math-destruction/">This Mathematician Says Big Data Is Causing a 'Silent Financial Crisis'</a> - "Like the dark financial arts employed in the run up to the 2008 financial crisis, the Big Data algorithms that sort us into piles of 'worthy' and 'unworthy' are mostly opaque and unregulated, not to mention generated (and used) by large multinational firms with huge lobbying power to keep it that way."
more from mathbabe...
<ul><li><a href="https://mathbabe.org/2016/07/27/reform-the-cfaa/">Reform the CFAA</a> - "The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act is <a href="http://continuations.com/post/149178213205/the-terrible-no-good-cfaa-giving-more-power-to">badly in need of reform</a>... Specifically, the CFAA keeps researchers from understanding how algorithms work."</li>
<li><a href="https://mathbabe.org/2016/08/11/donald-trump-is-like-a-biased-machine-learning-algorithm/">Donald Trump is like a biased machine learning algorithm</a> - "The reason I bring this up: first of all, it's a great way of understanding how machine learning algorithms can give us stuff we absolutely don't want, even though they fundamentally lack prior agendas."</li>
<li><a href="https://mathbabe.org/2016/07/22/auditing-algorithms/">Auditing Algorithms</a> - "I've started a company called ORCAA, which stands for O'Neil Risk Consulting and Algorithmic Auditing and is pronounced 'orcaaaaaa'. ORCAA will audit algorithms and conduct risk assessments for algorithms, first as a consulting entity and eventually, if all goes well, as a more formal auditing firm, with open methodologies and toolkits."</li>
<li><a href="https://mathbabe.org/2016/07/11/when-is-ai-appropriate/">When is AI appropriate?</a> - "The short version of my answer is, AI can be made appropriate if it's thoughtfully done, but most AI shops are <a href="https://twitter.com/FrankPasquale/status/771322585158127617">not set up to be at all thoughtful</a> about how it's done."</li>
<li><a href="https://mathbabe.org/2016/07/25/horrifying-new-credit-scoring-in-china/">Horrifying New Credit Scoring in China</a> - "ZestFinance is the American company, led by ex-Googler Douglas Merrill who likes to say 'all data is credit data'... <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2016/9/1/12725804/baidu-machine-learning-open-source-paddle">Baidu is the Google of China</a>. So they have a shit ton of browsing history on people. Things like, 'symptoms for Hepatitis' or 'how do I get a job'. In other words, the <a href="http://a16z.com/2016/07/24/money-as-message/">company collects information</a> on a person's most vulnerable hopes and fears. Now put these two together, which they already did thankyouverymuch, and you've got a toxic cocktail of personal information, on the one hand, and absolutely no hesitation in using information against people, on the other."</li>
<li><a href="https://mathbabe.org/2016/05/17/white-house-report-on-big-data-and-civil-rights/">White House report on big data and civil rights</a> - "Last week the White House issued a report entitled <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2016/05/04/big-risks-big-opportunities-intersection-big-data-and-civil-rights">Big Risks, Big Opportunities: the Intersection of Big Data and Civil Rights</a>. Specifically, the authors were United States C.T.O. <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/author/megan-smith">Megan Smith</a>, Chief Data Scientist <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/author/dj-patil">DJ Patil</a>, and <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/author/cecilia-mu%C3%B1oz">Cecilia Munoz</a>, who is Assistant to the President and Director of the Domestic Policy Council. It is a remarkable report, and covered a lot in 24 readable pages. I was especially excited to see the following paragraph in <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2016/05/04/big-risks-big-opportunities-intersection-big-data-and-civil-rights">the summary of the report</a>: 'Using case studies on credit lending, employment, higher education, and criminal justice, the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/2016_0504_data_discrimination.pdf">report we are releasing today</a> illustrates how big data techniques can be used to detect bias and prevent discrimination. It also demonstrates the risks involved, particularly how technologies can deliberately or inadvertently perpetuate, exacerbate, or mask discrimination'. The <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/2016_0504_data_discrimination.pdf">report itself</a> is broken up into an abstract discussion of algorithms, which for example debunks the widely held assumption that algorithms are objective, discusses problems of biased training data, and discusses problems of opacity, unfairness, and disparate impact."</li>
<li><a href="https://mathbabe.org/2016/06/03/three-ideas-for-defusing-weapons-of-math-destruction/">Three Ideas for defusing Weapons of Math Destruction</a> - "1) Use open datasets; 2) Take manual curation seriously; 3) Demand causal models."</li></ul>
also btw...
<ul><li><a href="https://freedom-to-tinker.com/blog/randomwalker/the-workshop-on-data-and-algorithmic-transparency/">The workshop on Data and Algorithmic Transparency</a> - "From online advertising to Uber to predictive policing, <a href="https://twitter.com/FrankPasquale/status/763390691884040194">algorithmic</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/FrankPasquale/status/763061056189104129">systems</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/FrankPasquale/status/770249954447286272">powered</a> by <a href="https://twitter.com/nicolasterry/status/766964589716090880">personal data</a> affect <a href="https://twitter.com/FrankPasquale/status/763105465580589056">more and more</a> of our lives. As our <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2750148">society begins to grapple</a> with the consequences of this shift, empirical investigation of these systems has proved vital to understand the potential for <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/19/opinion/the-real-bias-built-in-at-facebook.html">discrimination</a>, <a href="http://elaineou.com/2016/08/17/linkedin-vs-the-bots/">privacy breaches</a>, and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/14/opinion/campaign-stops/the-election-wont-be-rigged-but-it-could-be-hacked.html">vulnerability to manipulation</a>."</li>
<li><a href="http://www.information-age.com/it-management/risk-and-compliance/123461954/why-gdpr-catalyst-global-digital-transformation">Why GDPR is the catalyst for a global digital transformation</a> - "The European Union's General Data Protection Regulation, which <a href="https://twitter.com/jathansadowski/status/760954763726901248">all businesses must comply</a> with by 2018, will trigger the next wave of global digital transformation... Recently, Facebook had to ensure that the data it had collected on EU citizens wasn't being misused in the US. The ruling resulted in US firms scrambling to get their <a href="https://twitter.com/FrankPasquale/status/763880621064261632">data agreements</a> in order and ensure the safe sharing of data."</li>
<li><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-08-05/this-company-has-built-a-profile-on-every-american-adult">This Company Has Built a Profile on Every American Adult</a> - "For more than a decade, professional snoops have been able to search troves of public and nonpublic records—known addresses, DMV records, photographs of a person's car—and condense them into comprehensive reports costing as little as $10. Now they can combine that information with the kinds of things marketers know about you, such as which politicians you donate to, what you spend on groceries, and whether it's weird that you ate in last night, to create a portrait of your life and predict your behavior. IDI, a year-old company in the so-called data-fusion business, is the first to centralize and weaponize all that information for its customers. The Boca Raton, Fla., company's database service, idiCORE, combines public records with purchasing, demographic, and behavioral data. Chief Executive Officer Derek Dubner says the system isn't waiting for requests from clients—it's already built a profile on every American adult, including young people who wouldn't be swept up in conventional databases, which only index transactions."</li>
<li><a href="http://www.full-stop.net/2016/08/10/features/essays/jacobsilverman/what-machines-know-surveillance-anxiety-and-digitizing-the-world/">What Machines Know: Surveillance Anxiety and Digitizing the World</a> - "Who I think I am doesn't matter — what matters is what the algorithms of Google, my potential employer, my health insurer, and the Department of Homeland Security say I am."</li>
<li><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/21/upshot/ban-the-box-an-effort-to-stop-discrimination-may-actually-increase-it.html">Ban the Box? An Effort to Stop Discrimination May Actually Increase It</a> - "<a href="https://twitter.com/jenniferdoleac/status/766848697204301824">Research suggests</a> that unintended consequences may foil well-intentioned policies."</li>
<li><a href="http://smerity.com/articles/2016/algorithms_can_be_prejudiced.html">It's ML, not magic: machine learning can be prejudiced</a> - "<a href="https://twitter.com/FrankPasquale/status/763038091753947136">If we're not careful</a>, optimizing life for some will be equivalent to handicapping life for others."</li>
<li><a href="https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/279927">Machine Learning Needs Bias Training to Overcome Stereotypes</a> - "It's time for the risks of social bias to be <a href="http://arxiv.org/abs/1608.08196">embedded deeply</a> in data science codes of ethics and education."</li>
<li><a href="http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/mediapolicyproject/2016/02/05/bittersweet-mysteries-of-machine-learning-a-provocation/">The complexity of machine learning does not make it unregulable</a> - "For the most <i>laissez-faire</i> commentators in the debate on algorithmic accountability, each step in the process of algorithmic ordering is immune from legal contestation or inspection: 1) the data gathered for processing are protected as trade secrets, 2) the processing itself is too complex for any human to understand, and 3) its outputs are 'free expression', exempt from ordinary legal restrictions. I have disputed 1) and 3) in other work, and in this provocation I deem 2) the '<a href="https://pressron.wordpress.com/2016/08/30/what-we-talk-about-when-we-talk-about-computation/">sweet mystery of machine learning</a>' approach to deflecting regulation... Even if algorithms at the heart of these processes '<a href="http://nautil.us/issue/40/learning/is-artificial-intelligence-permanently-inscrutable">transcend all understanding</a>', we can inspect the inputs (data) that go into them, restrict the contexts in which they are used, and demand outputs that avoid disparate impacts."</li>
<li><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/political-science/2016/aug/11/numbers-dont-need-to-be-trusted-to-shape-our-lives-they-just-need-our-attention-bbc">Numbers don't need to be trusted to shape our lives: they just need our attention</a> - "With the escalating use of metrics across all areas of our lives, we have seen the power of numbers shifting from being about faith to being about persuasion. It is no longer what numerical measures tell us, but what metrics <i>tell us to do</i>. When we look at the way that numbers are used, we see <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2016.1216147">increasingly calculative modes of reasoning</a> deployed in our workplaces, in our consumer behaviour, and in determining whether schools, hospitals, universities, countries are failing or succeeding."</li>
<li><a href="https://theintercept.com/2016/07/29/a-famed-hacker-is-grading-thousands-of-programs-and-may-revolutionize-software-in-the-process/">A Famed Hacker Is Grading Thousands of Programs — and May Revolutionize Software in the Process</a> - "Mudge and his wife, Sarah, a former NSA mathematician, have developed a first-of-its-kind method for testing and scoring the security of software — a method inspired partly by Underwriters Laboratories, that century-old entity responsible for the familiar circled UL seal that tells you your toaster and hair dryer have been tested for safety and won't burst into flames. Called the Cyber Independent Testing Lab, the Zatkos' operation won't tell you if your software is literally incendiary, but it will give you a way to comparison-shop browsers, applications, and antivirus products according to <a href="https://medium.com/@avsa/the-truth-about-the-fork-fd040c7ca955">how hardened they are</a> against attack. It may also push software makers to improve their code to avoid a low score and remain competitive."</li>
<li><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/01/opinion/make-algorithms-accountable.html">Make Algorithms Accountable</a> - "We need more due process protections to assure the accuracy of the algorithms that have become ubiquitous in our lives."</li></ul> tag:metafilter.com,2016:site.162085Tue, 06 Sep 2016 00:24:25 -0800kliulessYou are worth having coffee with.http://www.metafilter.com/161670/You%2Dare%2Dworth%2Dhaving%2Dcoffee%2Dwith
<a href="https://www.math.hmc.edu/~su/">Francis Su</a> is a professor of mathematics at Harvey Mudd College and the first non-white president of the Mathematical Association of America. In 2013, he presented his Haimo Teaching Award lecture, <a href="http://mathyawp.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-lesson-of-grace-in-teaching.html">The Lesson of Grace in Teaching</a>. For Su, when we learn the lesson of grace&mdash;that we have dignity irrespective of accomplishments&mdash;and when we impart that lesson to our students, we make good teaching, enthusiastic learning, and honest evaluation possible. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwJXPRj_CUM">A similar, adapted talk at Wheaton College</a>
Other essays by Francis Su:
<a href="http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-su-women-in-mathematics-20140826-story.html">Solve this math problem: The gender gap </a>
<blockquote>Earlier this month, Maryam Mirzakhani became the first woman in history to win a Fields Medal — "math's Nobel Prize." This is a cause for celebration, but also for reflection. Things are definitely better than they once were for women in mathematics... But Mirzakhani's achievement aside, we are still a long way from adequately recognizing the outstanding work of women.</blockquote>
<a href="https://mathyawp.wordpress.com/2016/08/11/freedom-through-inquiry/">Freedom through Inquiry</a>
<blockquote>Freedom is the ability, in relationship with my peers, to proclaim: "my feet and my head are sticking out of my bed". Or the freedom to say "my proof is wrong" without shame or judgment. Indeed a wrong proof was always a point of delight, because it meant we were seeing something subtle, and it was a challenge to further problem-solving!
What if we could help people across the educational spectrum see a culture of inquiry as a means of producing an environment of freedom: where students can respond to every setback without shame and as a springboard to further investigation?</blockquote> tag:metafilter.com,2016:site.161670Tue, 16 Aug 2016 18:36:33 -0800J.K. SeazerMonumental Proof to Torment Mathematicians for Years to Comehttp://www.metafilter.com/161450/Monumental%2DProof%2Dto%2DTorment%2DMathematicians%2Dfor%2DYears%2Dto%2DCome
Nearly four years after Shinichi Mochizuki (<a href="http://www.metafilter.com/153893/The-likelihood-that-theres-interesting-or-important-math-is-pretty-high">previously</a>, <a href="http://www.metafilter.com/127954/Proof-and-Community-Standards">previously</a>, <a href="http://www.metafilter.com/119847/Mathematics-world-abuzz-with-a-proof-of-the-ABC-Conjecture">previously</a>) unveiled an imposing set of papers (<a href="http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~motizuki/Inter-universal%20Teichmuller%20Theory%20I.pdf">1</a>, <a href="http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~motizuki/Inter-universal%20Teichmuller%20Theory%20II.pdf">2</a>, <a href="http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~motizuki/Inter-universal%20Teichmuller%20Theory%20III.pdf">3</a>, <a href="http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~motizuki/Inter-universal%20Teichmuller%20Theory%20IV.pdf">4</a>) that could revolutionize the theory of numbers, other mathematicians have yet to understand his work or agree on its validity — <a href="http://www.nature.com/news/monumental-proof-to-torment-mathematicians-for-years-to-come-1.20342">although they have made modest progress</a>.</a> Some <a href="http://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress/?p=8663">four dozen mathematicians converged last week</a> for a rare opportunity to hear Mochizuki present his own work at a conference on his home turf, Kyoto University's Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences (RIMS).
Mochizuki's theorem aims to prove the important <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abc_conjecture">abc conjecture</a>, which dates back to 1985 and relates to prime numbers.
<a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2099534-mathematicians-finally-starting-to-understand-epic-abc-proof/">The glimmer of understanding</a> that has started to emerge is well worth the effort, says [University of Nottingham's Ivan] Fesenko. "I expect that at least 100 of the most important open problems in number theory will be solved using Mochizuki's theory and further development." tag:metafilter.com,2016:site.161450Fri, 05 Aug 2016 17:35:03 -0800stinkfootSo, the unknowable kicks inhttp://www.metafilter.com/161308/So%2Dthe%2Dunknowable%2Dkicks%2Din
<a href="https://plus.google.com/117663015413546257905/posts/VdJyWda2hrj">Logic hacking</a> - "Writing shorter and shorter computer programs for which it's unknowable whether these programs run forever, or stop... the winner of the <a href="https://johncarlosbaez.wordpress.com/2016/05/21/the-busy-beaver-game/">Busy Beaver Game</a> for N-state Turing machines becomes unknowable using ordinary math - somewhere between N = 5 and N = 1919." <a href="https://plus.google.com/117663015413546257905/posts/8eYTjrpiGte">Interview with a Mathematical Physicist</a>: <a href="https://plus.google.com/117663015413546257905/posts/JFF1nW6uxcD">John Baez</a>
<ul><li><a href="https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/interview-mathematical-physicist-john-baez-part-1/">Part 1</a> - "Here's the first part of an interview. I used it as an excuse to say what I've been doing all these years. I also talk about my uncle Albert Baez, who got me interested in physics in the first place - and <a href="https://johncarlosbaez.wordpress.com/2016/06/11/azimuth-news-part-5/">what I'm working on</a> right now. I hope it's interesting even if you care more about math and physics. There's a lot here about quantum gravity, category theory and some of my hobbies, like the octonions."</li>
<li><a href="https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/interview-mathematical-physicist-john-baez-part-2/">From crackpots to climate change</a> - "Here's part two of my interview on Physics Forums. I talk about the early days of the internet, before the world-web caught on. First we started discussing physics on 'usenet newsgroups' like sci.physics - but then a flood of crackpots invaded... That's what led me to create the Crackpot Index. But spending lots of time on newsgroups was still worthwhile, and it led me to start writing '<a href="http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/TWF.html">This Week's Finds</a>', which has been called the world's first blog, in 1993. I also talk about my physics and math heroes, what discoveries I'm most looking forward to, and why I switched to thinking about environmental problems. It was a great chance to ponder lots of things, including the far future of the Universe."</li></ul>
also btw...
-<a href="https://plus.google.com/117663015413546257905/posts/gvzrNKQqqnV">1+1 = 0</a>
-<a href="https://plus.google.com/117663015413546257905/posts/4fMBVQUhrDm">Computing the uncomputable</a>
-<a href="https://plus.google.com/117663015413546257905/posts/6jw8M2dxV9g">The inaccessible infinite</a>
-<a href="https://plus.google.com/117663015413546257905/posts/ZSb9MWjdKss">The longest G+ post I'll ever write</a>
-<a href="https://plus.google.com/117663015413546257905/posts/8E9ztrNUir7">The world's most long-winded proof</a>
-<a href="https://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~chaitin/summer.html">Paradoxes of randomness</a>
-<a href="http://lemire.me/blog/2016/05/23/the-surprising-cleverness-of-modern-compilers/">The surprising cleverness of modern compilers</a> tag:metafilter.com,2016:site.161308Sat, 30 Jul 2016 11:42:28 -0800kliulessThe lasting legacy of the "rocket girls" of JPLhttp://www.metafilter.com/160358/The%2Dlasting%2Dlegacy%2Dof%2Dthe%2Drocket%2Dgirls%2Dof%2DJPL
California-based <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jet_Propulsion_Laboratory">Jet Propulsion Laboratory</a> (<a href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/">JPL</a>) has been central to the US missile and rocket development and operations for decades, and <a href="http://www.space.com/32572-rise-of-the-rocket-girls-book-author-interview.html">from the beginning that technology's success rested on a corps of expert mathematicians, people known as computers</a>. And from the beginning they were all women, in a time when such opportunities were few and far between. <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/explorer/computers.html">You can find pictures of them</a>, but names have not been well-recorded ... <a href="http://www.wbur.org/radioboston/2016/04/13/nasa-computers-women">until now</a>. <a href="http://gizmodo.com/meet-the-forgotten-rocket-girls-who-helped-nasa-reach-t-1769254047">Nathalia Holt found many of those women and wrote about their experiences</a> in <a href="http://www.npr.org/2016/04/05/473099967/meet-the-rocket-girls-the-women-who-charted-the-course-to-space">her book, <em>Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us, from Missiles to the Moon to Mars</em></a>. <a href="https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/04/15/the-rise-of-rocket-girls/">Women have had key roles, with little recognition, in astronomy, the Manhattan Project, and the US space program from its beginning</a>. This is in part because <a href="http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/the-age-of-female-computers">the humbler levels of scientific work were open, even welcoming, to women. Indeed, by the early twentieth century computing was thought of as women's work and computers were assumed to be female</a>. And likely due to this "humble" status and their gender, <a href="http://crgis.ndc.nasa.gov/historic/Human_Computers">the women of Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory</a>, JPL, and other similar institutions have been largely overlooked in recounts of the history of rocketry and space exploration.
<a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/06/the-women-behind-the-jet-propulsion-laboratory/482847/">Barbara Canright was the first woman on the pre-JPL team, when they were the "Suicide Squad" and received a grant to build a rocket jet back in 1939</a>. She was the computer who provided the engineers their calculations and figures, calculated thrust-to-weight ratios for test scenarios of their jet-assisted takeoff (JATO) experiments, the lone woman in the team of engineers. Barby, as she was called, was joined by two more computers, Freeman Kincaid and Melba Nead. Melba was the third woman working with the group, along with Barby and the secretary, Dorothy Lewis. Soon after, JPL hired two more women, Virginia Prettyman and Macie Roberts. All work was done by hand, with the occasional assistance from a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S0BETniokI" title="FRIDEN Electro-Mechanical Calculator SW10 - A description of the primary functions of the Friden electro-mechanical calculator. Date of manufacture: approx. 1952. Fully working after a period of restoration. A slice of technological history prior to the electronic age.">Friden calculator</a>, much faster than a slide rule, but limited to addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
Macie was the one who really shaped the computer group. When she was promoted to supervisor, she selected the new computers who would join the team, and picked women who would work well in the group. Soon, the computers were known as her group, <a href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=1327" title="photo caption - 'Macie Roberts' computing group circa 1955'">as seen in this photo, circa 1955</a>. One of her hires was Sue Finley, who first worked at <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convair">Convair</a> before coming to JPL, which was closer to her home. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4QF570F5hs">That was 1957, and she's been with JPL</a> (and later NASA) <a href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/women/profile.html#finley">ever since, with no plans on retiring yet</a>.
The computers and engineers socialized, with formal events including <a href="https://natgeotv.com.au/history/without-these-women-man-would-never-have-made-it-to-mars.aspx">beauty pageants like Miss Guided Missile (1955)</a> and <a href="http://venusonmars.com/augment/queenofouterspace.html">Queen of Outer Space (1964), a tradition that ended when JPL's affirmative action policy began in 1971</a>. The computers became engineers, and some current female employees were retrained as computer scientists, programmers, and physicists, then promoted into higher-paying positions. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Before that formal policy, JPL's computer group was more open to diversity and more supportive of working mothers, <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/05/160508-rocket-girls-women-moon-mars-nathalia-holt-space-ngbooktalk/">with Macie asking Helen Ling to come back to work a while after Helen had her baby, and Macie hired Janez Lawson, a highly qualified young lady with a degree in chemical engineering from UCLA</a>, when she couldn't get a job as an engineer because she was an African-American woman, in 1952. Helen took Macie's place when Macie retired, continuing her legacy with the computer group.
The computers and engineers collaborated, <a href="http://pthomascarroll.com/pubs/CarrollSergeantPaper.pdf">refining the "star" design of a rocket motor to be more reliable</a> (PDF, no mention of the women who worked on the calculations), <a href="http://www.spaceline.org/rocketsum/jupiter-c.html">the spin-rates for for the second and third stages</a> of the <a href="http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/jupiterc.htm">Jupiter-C</a>, and <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=v04rAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA590#v=onepage&q&f=false">the Microlock tracking technology</a>, developed in part by <a href="http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/latimes/obituary.aspx?pid=171214434">Marie Crowley</a> (obituary, with slim reference to her time at JPL), to name a few feats.
The women in the computer group were early adopters of various IBM electronic computers, from the <a href="http://www.columbia.edu/cu/computinghistory/701.html">IBM 701</a>, but when it came time to track <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_3">Pioneer 3</a>'s initial ascent, instead everyone relied upon Sue Finley's fast work to be accurate in tracking the failed launch. They moved forward with advancing technology, including <a href="http://ruddcanaday.com/burroughs-e101/">the Burroughs E101, a weird amalgam of manual calculator and computer</a>, operated with a pinboard, and on into the wonderful world of Fortran (<a href="http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/a17991/voyager-1-voyager-2-retiring-engineer/">still in use by NASA</a>, btw). By the 1960s, <a href="http://www.latimes.com/socal/glendale-news-press/community/tn-gnp-me-0406-rocketgirls-20160405-story.html">Helen Ling's group of computers</a> were using <a href="http://paul.mcnabbs.org/ibm1620/">IBM 1620s</a> or <a href="http://jep-s.blogspot.com/2010/07/french-curve.html">French curves to plot</a> spacecraft trajectories. But even as <a href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mariner2/">Mariner 2's trip was successful</a> thanks in part to the work by the human computers, their jobs were in peril, due to the advances of the increased reliability and efficiency of the electronic computers.
To the benefit of the computers, <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/06/how-sexism-held-back-space-exploration/486644/">machine computing was distrusted by the engineers, and the IBMs needed someone to program them to make them do anything, so the women of the computing group continued their work, in a slightly different capacity</a>. Furthermore, computers were built into the satellites that JPL was launching, and someone had to program those, so the women worked on. The women also started getting credit for their work, thanks to their more open-minded male counterparts, as with <a href="http://arc.aiaa.org/toc/jsr/6/9">Kathryn L. Thuleen's credit for work on the Mariner 5 Altitude-Control System</a> (paywalled article), referenced in <a href="http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19700027536.pdf"><em>Spacecraft Mass Expulsion Torques</em></a> (PDF), and Phyllis Buwalda was credited alongside geophysicist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcia_Neugebauer">Marcia Neugebauer</a> in the write-up on a feasibilty study of <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/JZ065i010p03097/abstract"><em>A Lunar Seismic Experiment</em></a> (abstract, paywalled). The women wrote and debugged the code that sent satellites probing distant planets, and the women converted analog signals to digital details, <a href="http://s.telegraph.co.uk/graphics/projects/mars-first-photo-anniversary/">doing the first image processing</a> and <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:First_TV_Image_of_Mars.jpg">producing the first televised image of Mars</a>, ahead of <a href="http://www.directedplay.com/first-tv-image-of-mars/">the black and white images processed by the IBM</a> (again, no mention of the women who ran the calculations to generate those colors).
Technology progressed, and so did the skill of the women formerly known as computers. They wrote code in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HAL/S">High-order Assembly Language</a> (HAL) that <a href="http://history.nasa.gov/computers/Ch4-5.html">supported real-time programming</a>. They moved forward, adopting <a href="http://www.intel4004.com/">Intel 4004 microprocessors</a> in the 1970s, and joined the desktop computer revolution, picking up <a href="http://www.oldcomputers.net/ibm5140.html">IBM Convertible PC "laptops"</a> in the 1980s, allowing for work to continue while the women left the office, to allow further juggling of home life and work life with tight deadlines all around.
JPL and NASA also moved forward with further integration of women in all levels. At one point, <a href="http://www.witi.com/center/witimuseum/halloffame/171509/Donna-Shirley-Retired,-Manager-Mars-Exploration-Program/">Donna Shirley</a>, manager of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Exploration_Program">Mars Exploration Program</a>, looked around at her project team to realize she was surrounded by women, thanks in part to the legacy of Macie Roberts and Helen Ling. Yet, while <a href="http://www.iflscience.com/space/50-percent-nasas-latest-class-astronauts-female/">50 percent of NASA's latest class of astronauts are female</a>, and <a href="http://women.nasa.gov/">NASA has a site that highlights the women who work there</a>, <a href="http://www.space.com/22175-nasa-needs-women-sally-ride.html">that ratio is not representative of the agency as a whole</a>, though JPL as a sub-set has a better gender balance. Meanwhile, the work of the "rocket girls" continues through space and send back data, a testament to their skills and efforts. tag:metafilter.com,2016:site.160358Wed, 15 Jun 2016 09:11:20 -0800filthy light thief"Hyperbolic" but not in the literary device sensehttp://www.metafilter.com/159590/Hyperbolic%2Dbut%2Dnot%2Din%2Dthe%2Dliterary%2Ddevice%2Dsense
I know that you've gotten bored of roguelikes because they're so easy to wrap your head around and master, so here's <a href="http://www.roguetemple.com/z/hyper/">one that takes place in hyperbolic space</a> tag:metafilter.com,2016:site.159590Sun, 15 May 2016 20:11:10 -0800DoctorFedoraWhy are we here? Because we're here.http://www.metafilter.com/159469/Why%2Dare%2Dwe%2Dhere%2DBecause%2Dwere%2Dhere
Perhaps you've heard of the recent release of the <a href="http://www.cnet.com/news/bonkers-120-sided-die-puts-the-big-roll-in-role-playing-games/">120-sided die</a>, which is certainly impressive in its way but not really that... weird. If you're <em>really</em> looking to stand out, why not order yourself some <a href="http://www.gamerjargon.net/dictionary/d34/">34-sided dice</a>? tag:metafilter.com,2016:site.159469Wed, 11 May 2016 21:25:45 -0800DoctorFedoraWhen in doubt, do the math.http://www.metafilter.com/159457/When%2Din%2Ddoubt%2Ddo%2Dthe%2Dmath
"<em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1451665075/metafilter-20/ref=nosim/">Happy Money</a></em> lists five principles of happy spending:<br>
1) Buy experiences<br>
2) Make it a treat<br>
3) Buy time<br>
4) Pay now, consume later<br>
5) Invest in others<br>
Five principles are four too many for a lazy reductionist, let's see if we can identify some common themes and combine these ideas into a single framework that would lose all nuance and intricacy but be expressible as an equation. <a href="https://putanumonit.com/2016/05/11/shopping-for-happiness/">(Spoiler: of course we can, duh).</a>" tag:metafilter.com,2016:site.159457Wed, 11 May 2016 12:22:02 -0800zarqContact! Let's make contact!http://www.metafilter.com/159184/Contact%2DLets%2Dmake%2Dcontact
"'Too many children think that scientists are all middle-aged white males in laboratory coats,' Edward Atkins, <em>3-2-1 Contact</em>'s director of content, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1983/10/16/arts/turning-kids-on-to-the-wonders-of-technology-and-science.html" title="NYT | October 16, 1983 | Turning Kids On to the Wonders Of Technology and Science">told</a> <em>The New York Times</em> in 1983." <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/04/ode-to-3-2-1-contact/480546/" title="The Atlantic | April 30, 2016 | '3-2-1 Contact': The Best 1980s PBS Show That Taught Kids About Math, Science, and Technology">The Kids' Show That Taught Me to Ask "Why?"</a>, an ode to <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0190169/">3-2-1 Contact</a>. 3-2-1 Contact <a href="https://www.metafilter.com/88584/Contact-is-the-secret-is-the-moment-when-everything-happens-Contact">previously</a>.
<a href="http://noblemania.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-bloodhound-gang-3-2-1-contact-cast.html">Interviews with the cast of 3-2-1 Contact's Bloodhound Gang, circa 2013: part one</a>, <a href="http://noblemania.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-bloodhound-gang-3-2-1-contact-cast_22.html">part two</a>, <a href="http://noblemania.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-bloodhound-gang-3-2-1-contact-cast_23.html">part three</a>, and <a href="http://noblemania.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-bloodhound-gang-3-2-1-contact-cast_24.html">part four</a> | <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/ThreeTwoOneContact">3-2-1 Contact at TVTropes</a> | <a href="http://mentalfloss.com/article/26575/late-movies-3-2-1-contact">Episode clips and reminiscing at Mental_Floss</a> | <a href="http://games.datagrind.com/index.php?pageid=10">BASIC code games from 3-2-1 Contact Magazine</a> (see also: <a href="https://archive.org/details/enter-magazine">Enter Magazine</a>) | <a href="http://www.sesameworkshop.org/archive/3-2-1-contact/">Sesame Workshop: Hey, There's Some Science in My Cereal!</a>
Also mentioned in the OP link: <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0191731/">Square One TV</a>.
<a href="http://www.rediscoverthe80s.com/2012/11/forgotten-80s-tv-shows-square-one-tv.html">Rediscover the 80s: Square One TV</a> | <a href="http://www.squareonetv.org/guide/episode.asp">Square One Episode Guide, 1987-1992</a> | <a href="http://www.vox.com/2015/1/21/7862165/mathnet-monday-frankly">9 facts only Mathnet fans will care about</a> | <a href="http://annalsofspacetime.blogspot.com/2012/03/curious-george-conversation-with.html">Curious George: A Conversation with Mathnet's Joe Howard</a> | <a href="http://annalsofspacetime.blogspot.com/2012/03/my-name-is-monday-conversation-with.html">My Name is Monday: A Conversation with Mathnet's Beverly Leech</a> | <a href="http://annalsofspacetime.blogspot.com/2012/04/talking-with-tuesday-conversation-with.html">Talking with Tuesday: A Conversation with Mathnet's Toni Di Buono</a> | <a href="http://www.sesameworkshop.org/archive/square-one-tv/">Sesame Workshop: Keeping Track of All the Angles</a> tag:metafilter.com,2016:site.159184Tue, 03 May 2016 11:43:31 -0800amnesia and magnetsThe New Astrologyhttp://www.metafilter.com/158710/The%2DNew%2DAstrology
Surveys indicate that economists see their discipline as 'the most scientific of the social sciences'. What is the basis of this collective faith, shared by universities, presidents and billionaires? Shouldn't successful and powerful people be the first to spot the exaggerated worth of a discipline, and the least likely to pay for it? In the hypothetical worlds of rational markets, where much of economic theory is set, perhaps. But real-world history tells a different story, of mathematical models masquerading as science and a public eager to buy them, <a href="https://aeon.co/essays/how-economists-rode-maths-to-become-our-era-s-astrologers">mistaking elegant equations for empirical accuracy</a>. tag:metafilter.com,2016:site.158710Sun, 17 Apr 2016 23:35:20 -0800AlterityA Riddle from 538http://www.metafilter.com/158147/A%2DRiddle%2Dfrom%2D538
<a href="http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/should-you-pay-250-to-play-this-casino-game/">Should you pay $250 to play this casino game?</a> tag:metafilter.com,2016:site.158147Fri, 25 Mar 2016 07:41:15 -0800boxIs this Prime?http://www.metafilter.com/157996/Is%2Dthis%2DPrime
The <a href="http://isthisprime.com/game/#"><em>Is this prime?</em></a> game tests you as you sort numbers into prime and non-prime. Click Yes or No or type Y or N on the keyboard. Uses JavaScript. The game ends at the first incorrect guess or when the clock runs out. The time, maximum number, and difficulty can be set by clicking the S at the top left.
Stats of previous games <a href="http://isthisprime.com/game/record.php">here</a>. tag:metafilter.com,2016:site.157996Fri, 18 Mar 2016 11:15:29 -0800Clinging to the WreckageNo, really, pi is wrong.http://www.metafilter.com/157886/No%2Dreally%2Dpi%2Dis%2Dwrong
<a href="http://tauday.com/tau-manifesto">The Tau Manifesto</a> tag:metafilter.com,2016:site.157886Mon, 14 Mar 2016 09:49:17 -0800anotherpanacea"In short, they commuted but didn't associate."http://www.metafilter.com/157882/In%2Dshort%2Dthey%2Dcommuted%2Dbut%2Ddidnt%2Dassociate
Happy π Day! And do you know what that means? Math puns <a href="https://atkinsbookshelf.wordpress.com/tag/funny-pi-puns/">today</a>! <a href="http://www.calculushumor.com/calculus-humor/math-puns">Every</a> <a href="http://www.dorkly.com/post/73134/math-puns-yall">day</a>! In <a href="http://aperiodical.com/2015/01/the-aperiodicals-best-maths-pun-of-2014-competition-the-results/">competitions</a>, even. Don't like puns? Try other forms of <a href="http://www.math.utah.edu/~cherk/mathjokes.html">math humor</a> (or <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/13-math-jokes-that-every-mathematician-finds-absolutely-hilarious-2013-5">over-explain them to businesspeople</a>)! tag:metafilter.com,2016:site.157882Mon, 14 Mar 2016 05:35:56 -0800metaquarryWhat else have we missed about the primes?http://www.metafilter.com/157880/What%2Delse%2Dhave%2Dwe%2Dmissed%2Dabout%2Dthe%2Dprimes
<a href="https://www.quantamagazine.org/20160313-mathematicians-discover-prime-conspiracy/">Prime numbers, it seems, have decided preferences about the final digits of the primes that immediately follow them.</a> tag:metafilter.com,2016:site.157880Mon, 14 Mar 2016 04:13:49 -0800Proofs and RefutationsConway's Game of Pihttp://www.metafilter.com/157850/Conways%2DGame%2Dof%2DPi
John Horton Conway, known for his Game of Life among <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winning_Ways_for_your_Mathematical_Plays">numerous</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conway_group">other</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monstrous_moonshine">mathematical</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_will_theorem">contributions</a>, is <a href="http://blog.pizzahut.com/flavor-news/pizza-hut-partners-with-mathematician-john-h-conway-for-national-pi-day-math-contest/">partnering with Pizza Hut to release three original math problems</a> at 8 AM EDT this coming Pi Day (March 14th), "varying in level of difficulty from high school to Ph.D. level". The first person to respond to each question with the correct answer will win 3.14 years of free pizza. tag:metafilter.com,2016:site.157850Sat, 12 Mar 2016 03:43:43 -0800J.K. SeazerWhen to stop dating and settle down, according to mathhttp://www.metafilter.com/157496/When%2Dto%2Dstop%2Ddating%2Dand%2Dsettle%2Ddown%2Daccording%2Dto%2Dmath
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimal_stopping">Optimal stopping</a> is a <a href="http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/pub/knowing-when-to-stop">math theory</a> that can be used to solve <a href="http://www.inc.com/larry-kim/this-mathematical-formula-optimizes-success-in-life-love-amp-career.html">real world</a> decision problems. In the <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2014/12/the_secretary_problem_use_this_algorithm_to_determine_exactly_how_many_people.html">real world</a>, it is often applied to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/02/16/when-to-stop-dating-and-settle-down-according-to-math/">help decide</a> when to <a href="http://rs.io/the-secretary-problem-explained-dating/">stop dating</a> and <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2014/05/15/312537965/how-to-marry-the-right-girl-a-mathematical-solution">get married</a>. tag:metafilter.com,2016:site.157496Sun, 28 Feb 2016 08:27:19 -0800reenumHow Serious Computer Geeks Count On Their Fingershttp://www.metafilter.com/157242/How%2DSerious%2DComputer%2DGeeks%2DCount%2DOn%2DTheir%2DFingers
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SMmc9gQmHQ">How to count to 1000 on two hands</a> Covers counting on your fingers in binary, a skill far more people should have. Be careful you don't offend anyone when you hit 4, 128 and especially 132. A related <a href="http://www.metafilter.com/150242/3Blue1Brown-Reminding-the-world-that-math-makes-sense">Previously</a> tag:metafilter.com,2016:site.157242Thu, 18 Feb 2016 12:39:09 -0800Michele in California"there are ten enthusiastic seconds in 6 weeks"http://www.metafilter.com/157127/there%2Dare%2Dten%2Denthusiastic%2Dseconds%2Din%2D6%2Dweeks
<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/45m1zl/whats_the_coolest_mathematical_fact_you_know_of/">What is the coolest mathematical fact you know? (SLReddit)</a> tag:metafilter.com,2016:site.157127Sun, 14 Feb 2016 15:24:09 -0800holmesian